Archives for October 2015

Tribune de Genève. Last Wednesday, Bern received nearly CHF 320 million from Paris. This money relates to taxes paid by French residents working in Switzerland. Every year, France deducts taxes from cross-border workers and forwards an agreed amount to Switzerland. The payment was late and should have been made by 30 June 2015. When Eveline […]

Last weekend the UN in Geneva opened its doors to celebrate its 70th anniversary. There were an impressive 19,000 visitors according to the UN Facebook page. In a Tribune de Genève article, UN spokesperson Rhéal LeBlanc said “it has been a phenomenal success”. Director-General Michael Moller and former Secretary-General Kofi Annan were present along with […]

Late last week around 6,000 tons of rock fell off the side of a mountain in the commune of Evolène in the Swiss canton of Valais. According to SRF, the canton’s geologist Raphael Mayoraz had been expecting the rock to fall for some time and had taken the required precautions to ensure no one was […]

This morning the Swiss federal council, the 7-member executive branch of Switzerland’s government, decided to reduce the minimum interest rate pension funds must pay savers. Starting on 1 January 2016, the minimum rate will be 1.25% instead of the current minimum of 1.75%. On 30 August 2015, the federal pensions commission decided by a large […]

24 Heures. A Vaud study shows home break-ins in November and December are 44% higher than those in July and August, according to the Swiss newspaper 24 Heures. Most break-ins during winter months occur at the end of the afternoon while shops and offices are still open. Why? According to the local police, criminals like […]

The recent 2015 talent shortage survey by Manpower found that 41% of employers in Switzerland were having difficulty filling jobs. This is 3% higher than the global average of 38%. Neighbouring countries such and France (29%) and Italy (28%) fared better while Germany on 46% had a worse skills shortage than Switzerland. 41,700 employers across […]

A study released today classifies processed meats as carcinogenic. The study, done by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, looked at the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat. Processed meats are those that have been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, […]

This video on Vimeo by One Lidless Eye takes you on a journey through some of the most dramatic landscapes in the Swiss Alps. It takes in northern Lugano, Ticino, and Zermatt in the canton of Valais, ending with the breath-taking Matterhorn. Bern hyperlapsed – visit Bern in 2 minutes (Le News 12.10.15) This year […]

This week the Economist magazine wrote of the UDC’s (SVP) highly effective election campaign and how it was a key driver of the party’s record breaking success in last weekend’s election. Instead of using the combative slogans of the past, voters were wooed with softer messages. Swiss 2015 federal elections: UDC gains big ground (Le […]

At 3am this Sunday morning, Swiss time moves back one hour, giving Swiss residents an extra hour to sleep or party. Until fairly recently however, there was no Daylight Savings Time (DST) in Switzerland. In 1978 Swiss voters rejected plans to move to the current system of DST when 52.1% voted against it in a […]